


I'm the one who gets to make all the rules

by ywhiterain



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fix It Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-04 14:37:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10281101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ywhiterain/pseuds/ywhiterain
Summary: Elena decides to break Stefan out of heaven to get him back. I promise that I put just as much thought and care into this as Julie Plec did in the finale.





	

Stefan’s face lit up when he opened the door.

“Hello, brother,” Damon said.

“Damon,” Stefan said, a little breathless. He walked over, opening his arms.

Only to be socked so hard in the jaw he stumbled and fell. “What the hell was that for?” he asked, rubbing his face. “That could have really hurt me!”

“That,” Damon said, as he walked into the house and towered over Stefan, “was for me. This,” he grabbed Stefan’s wrist and pulled him into a tight hug, “is for you.” He pulled back, just a little, and shook Stefan, stared him down. “If you ever do anything so stupid again, I will wring your neck.”

“Guess I should be grateful,” Stefan said with a swallow. Licked his lips. “It’s not something I’ll have to worry about.”

“Sure it is,” Damon said. He pulled Stefan in for another hug. Longer, this time. And Stefan relaxed into it. He missed this, being held by his brother. “We’re bringing you back.”

“We?” Stefan asked. “Bringing me back?”

“Elena made a quick pit stop,” Damon said. He pulled back, gave Stefan a diabolical grin, “She wanted to say hi to her folks.”

Stefan’s brows furrowed. “What’s going on?” He shook his head. “I’m dead. You two were supposed to live a long and happy human life.”

“Well,” Damon said, “about that.”

*

_Five years before the present._

“So,” Damon said, waltzing into the hotel room he was sharing with Elena, “Caroline wants to know when we’ll be getting married. She’s planning on holding the wedding at the boarding house slash Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and wants to start planning it right away.” He tried to smile. “She wants to throw herself into as many projects as possible so she doesn’t have to think.”

“Wedding?” Elena asked. She looked up from the dusty old book she was reading and gave him a dirty look. “What the hell are you talking about? We don’t have time for that! Saving Stefan is our only priority right now.”

*

Stefan closed his eyes and rubbed them. “Really?”

“ _Really_ ,” Damon mocked. “Have you met Elena Gilbert? How can you possibly be shocked?”

“I was just hoping that me taking the cure would make her realize that saving me would be a waste of time,” Stefan said between gritted teeth. “Even if she brought me back, I’d be dead within a few weeks.”

Damon waved him off. “She was on that right away.”

*

_Five years before the present._

“Here we go,” Jeremy said. He turned the laptop around and slid it over to Elena. “I’ve been gathering everything I’ve been learning over the past six years on this web site.”

Elena looked at the hand drawn demon staring her down. Her face softened. “You designed it, didn’t it?”

“Got to have a hobby outside of fighting evil,” Jeremy said, grinning. “I was searching for a way to bring you back, so there’s a lot of stuff about magic on it.”

Elena closed the laptop partly and gave him a stern look. “You didn’t do anything dangerous to get all of this, did you?”

“Uh,” Jeremy said, “Yeah. No duh.”

“Jeremy!”

“I did so many stupid things,” Jeremy said, “and I’m never going to tell you about them because I’d like to keep my head on my neck.”

“It might be too late for that,” Elena snapped.

“I wasn’t going to let you rot, Elena,” Jeremy said. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m really sick of losing family.”

Elena’s face softened. “Jer.”

Jeremy grabbed the laptop. “Don’t get all sentimental on me.” He clicked through the web site. “I don’t have anything that can help you directly, but I found out a lot of things about the cure.”

*

“I think I’m going to need a drink,” Stefan muttered.

“Too bad you can’t get drunk here,” a familiar voice said.

Stefan turned. He looked. Tried to process. “El - ”

Then he couldn’t speak. Elena’s tongue was in his mouth. And she was cradling the back of his neck. And he was running his hands up and down her arms and across her back.

Damon interrupted them with a loud cough.

Elena pulled back with an annoyed huff. “Killjoy.”

Damon tilted his head to Stefan, who was stalking around the living room, running his hands through his hair.

“Elena,” Stefan said. “You have no idea how much I wish I could be with you. But I’m _married_.” He turned his attention to Damon, eyes wild. “And you’re with my brother!” Damon rolled his eyes. “Who seems oddly okay with this.”

“About that,” Elena said.

*

_Four years before the present._

Damon was dressed in his best suit, holding wine and flowers. Elena was in ratty jeans and one of Stefan’s old shirts.

“Date night,” Damon said.

Elena waved him off. She was on the phone. “Perfect. Thank you so much, Elijah. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

“Guess that’s off,” Damon said. He dropped the flowers on the table and walked over to the bed. He kept the wine with him. “Why did we even bother getting a hotel with one bed if we never use it?”

*

“Wait,” Stefan said. “Were you two still in a hotel?”

“Too busy to find a house,” Elena said nonchalantly.

Stefan shook his head. “And why was Elijah involved?”

Elena turned around. “You didn’t mention Klaus yet?”

“I didn’t want to steal your thunder.”

*

_Five year before the present._

“Do you really think this is going to work?” Caroline asked.

“Yep,” Elena said. Caroline still looked doubtful. “Klaus is obsessed with Stefan. He’ll be jumping at the chance to save him.”

“But he doesn’t give a damn about you,” Caroline said. “And he might decide to use newly human you to make more hybrids.”

Elena grinned. “Which is why I’m asking you to escort me. Last I checked, he was still sweet on you.” She knocked her shoulders against Caroline’s. “You’ll keep me safe.”

“Fine,” Caroline said, “wait. How do you know about that? It’s been years since you’ve seen Klaus.”

“Stefan left me a diary,” Elena said, “he told me all about it.”

“Of course he did,” Caroline said under her breath. Elena figured it best not to press. “Well. I suppose I have been meaning talk to him about fund raising.”

“Now to save Stefan!” Elena said, pumping her fist.

“That too!”

*

Stefan twisted his face. “Klaus and Caroline? Seriously?”

“No,” Damon said.

“Maybe,” Elena said.

“Sort of,” Damon said.

“Let’s just say she’s really making him work for it,” Elena said.

“Oh,” Stefan said. He wasn’t sure who to feel most sorry for in that. Then. “Wait. Aren’t we married?”

“You being dead kind of put a kink in that,” Damon pointed out.

“But you were planning to bring me back to life,” Stefan said.

“We’re getting to that,” Elena assured him.

*

 _Five years before the present_.

“And that’s what you’ve missed,” Caroline said with false brightness.

“What,” Klaus said with an angry twitch.

“I know it’s a lot to process,” Caroline said, “Stefan being dead and all.” She was blinking rapidly and biting her lips and clenching her fists. Every time she said it, it felt more real. She hated that part. Klaus started to move to her, to offer he comfort. But he stopped himself.

Elena walked over to Klaus and set her hands on his shoulders. “Just for now.”

“Obviously,” Klaus said. “I have a sketch of him I was planning to make into a painting. I believe that the blood of his killer will be a nice accent color. So, I’ll need a name.”

“He sacrificed himself to save us all,” Caroline said.

Klaus’ face became blank. “How heroic of him.” He walked over to Caroline and looked her in the eyes. “Give me a name.”

“Katherine,” Elena said, inpatient. “But that’s not really what happened.” Something in the quality of her voice had Klaus turning his full attention to her. “Stefan saw a chance to kill himself in a way Damon could accept and he took it.”

“Elena,” Caroline said, “I know you don’t want to accept what really happened. But I was there. He wanted to live. It’s just… Stefan was being Stefan.”

“No,” Klaus said. “Elena’s right. I may be a little out of the loop, but I know Stefan very well. And Elena knows him even better.”

Caroline met Elena’s eyes. Then Klaus. “I need to.” She grabbed a purse off a table. “Go. Do things.”

Klaus watched Caroline leave. Then he turned to Elena. “When we get Stefan back, I plan to have a very long talk with him about his most recent decisions.”

“After I’m done with him, you can have a week.” Elena said.

*

“I think I’m just going to stay here,” Stefan said.

“Nice try,” Elena said.

Stefan dropped down on couch. “I suppose that’s only fair. I really need to explain things to Caroline.” He waved his hand and some booze appeared in his hand. He may not be able to get drunk, but it could take the edge of. “And Klaus. Fuck.” He took a long drink and gave Elena a dirty look, “Thanks for that, by the way.”

Elena wasn’t bothered. She hopped into Stefan’s lap and kissed him on the nose. “You’re welcome.”

Stefan broke out in a smile. Then he caught Damon's, who was making quick work of heaven’s magic and waving him some quality booze for himself, eyes. “Things with Caroline aside…”

“That ended a while ago,” Elena said.

“What,” Stefan said.

*

_Three year before the present._

“Look at this,” Damon said, dropping a magazine in front of Elena.

“Paint swabs?” Elena asked.

“I bought our home,” Damon said, “which you, by the way, had no input on.”

“I was with Elijah,” Elena said, “getting a really important artifact if Bulgaria.” She turned her head up to give Damon a frustrated look. “You know, to bring Stefan back to life.”

“Elena - ”

“Don’t do that,” Elena said, “do not give me your stupid speech about wasting my life.” She shut the magazine shut and shoved it off the table. “It didn’t work when I was seventeen and it sure as hell isn’t going to work now.”

“We’re human,” Damon said carefully, “so that means we’re living with an expiration date. We don’t have all the time in the world to look for Stefan.”

“Stefan,” Elena said. She pulled away from table. “Stefan Salvatore. **Your** little brother. Why am I more invested in getting him back than you?”

“Yeah,” Damon said. He got into her face and looked down. “Why is that? My baby brother, your ex. Or at least that’s what I thought.” He gathered her wrists into his hands. “What is he to you?”

Elena looked like she was going to yell. But she had no words. She slumped. “Are you really going to make me say it?”

*

“So, there you go,” Damon said.

Stefan looked at Damon. Then Elena, who was happily cuddled in his lap. Awkward. “Do you two want to talk about it?”

“No,” Damon said.

“It was boring,” Elena said.

Fair enough.

“Besides,” Elena leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Damon’s got a new girl.”

*

_Three years before the present._

Damon woke up in a hotel bed. Looked at the woman beside him. “Shit.”

“No kidding,” Bonnie said. “Please tell me we were drunk.”

“Not even tipsy.”

“What are we going to tell Elena?” Bonnie said. “I can’t believe I slept with my best friend’s husband!”

“We didn’t even get married,” Damon said, “she got a lead Stefan and left before putting on the wedding dress.”

“Oh yeah,” Bonnie said. “But still.”

“We broke up yesterday,” Damon said. He rubbed Bonnie’s shoulders. “So you don’t have to feel guilty.”

“What?” Bonnie said. “You took me furniture shopping just yesterday.”

“In hindsight, that was probably a red flag,” Damon said.

“You still should have told me,” Bonnie said, grumpy.

Damon bit her shoulder and rolled her into the bed. “My mouth was a little too busy.”

*

Stefan held up his hand. “No more. I think I got the picture.” Then, he remembered. “What about Enzo?”

“Who?” Damon asked.

Elena looked equally confused.

“The love of her life,” Stefan said. “The guy I brutally murdered, destroying her future happiness.”

“Oh, him,” Elena said. “It kinda ran its course after a few months. Jer gave her a pep talk about wasting her life on a ghost and that was that.”

“I’m glad she’s happy,” Stefan said, “but I still need to make things up to her.” He looked at his brother with big puppy dog eyes. “And you. I know he was your best friend and I took that away from you.”

“I’m over it. I suggest you do the same.” Stefan kept looking sad. Damon rolled his eyes. “I’m getting you into therapy as soon as we get out of here.”

Elena took one of his hands between hers and pressed a kiss on his knuckles. “We’ll talk about this later, Stefan. Get through it together.”

“Thank you,” Stefan said. Then he stared at her. And she stared at him. And she smiled brightly. And Stefan smiled a little.

Damon got bored. “Let’s talk about Elijah and Elena."

*

_Five years before the present._

“Thank you so much for this,” Elena said.

“I didn’t have much of a choice,” Elijah said, “seeing as you roped my brother and sister into this.”

*

“Rebekah?” Stefan asked with furrowed brows. “Why would she help get me back?”

*

_Five years before the present._

“That was low,” Rebekah said, watching with something that wasn’t quite jealousy as Caroline, Klaus, Lizzie, Josie, and Hope playing UNO. “Using Caroline to get my brother to help you.”

“He’d help me either way,” Elena said, “I just wanted some extra incentive.” Rebekah gave her a dirty look. “It’s unlikely anything serious will happen any time soon. I know he’s still hung on Cami.”

“Yeah,” Rebekah said softly. Then. “Wait, how do you know about Cami?”

“Freya told Stefan and Stefan wrote about in the diary he wrote me,” Elena said with a shrug.

“You two are disgusting,” Rebekah said.

“So that means you’ll help us?” Elena asked.

“Are you kidding me?” Rebekah asked. Elena rose her eyebrows and grinned. “Fine.”

*

“She’s a sucker for a happy ending,” Elena explained. “I suffered through so many bad rom coms while living with her. She owed me.”

Stefan leaned in, “doppelganger charm didn’t hurt, did it?”

Elena stuck out her tongue. “Like you can talk.”

“And now Elijah,” Damon said.

“Are you trying to make me jealous?” Stefan asked.

*

_Five years before the present._

“I’m serious,” Elena said, “I know you didn’t have to do this.”

“Elena Gilbert,” Elijah said as he set a hand on her shoulder. “I’m honored to help you.”

“Still,” Elena said, “I hope you don’t think I’m making you do this for free. I owe you big time.”

“If you insist,” Elijah said. He brushed some lint off her shirt. “But do tell me: did you offer Rebekah or Klaus anything in return for their services?”

“Nope,” Elena said with a saucy grin and winked at him.

*

“Really?” Stefan asked, “winking?”

“I might have embellished a little,” Damon admitted. “But they did spend a lot of time together.”

“I gave him advice on Hayley,” Elena told Stefan.

They kissed.

“I hate you both.”

“Don’t be so pouty,” Katherine said as she waltzed into house.

Stefan fell off the couch. Elena happily followed. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Hell is my kingdom,” Katherine said, “but it was really boring being there all the time. Elena offered to help me walk between hell and the living realm in exchange for my help.”

“How did you even do all of this?” Stefan asked.

“It’s a great story,” Katherine said. 'Unfortunately, it’s a long one. And we’ve only got about five minutes to get out of here before the portal closes.”

“How is this even happening?” Stefan demanded.

“I’ll tell you when we get home,” Elena promised.


End file.
